We use cookies to give you the best possible online experience. If you continue, we’ll assume you are happy for your web browser to receive all cookies from our website. See our cookie policy for more information on cookies and how to manage them.

Making a bucket list, really?

We’re a life insurance provider, so our work focuses in part on one of life’s sad truths: one day, we’re all going to die. We help people make sure ‘life goes on’ and, like you, we’ve heard many, many heart-warming stories about seriously ill individuals who decide to stay positive and make the most of life, while they can. It’s called making a bucket list.

A bucket list?

Nobody’s sure where that came from. Popularised by the Jack Nicholson movie of the same name, one thought is it evolved from a dictionary of English slang dating back to 1785, in which ‘kick the bucket’ appeared as an entry. Wherever it came from, it’s a wonderful idea: setting out to experience and achieve certain things before we die.

Not surprisingly, bucket lists appear in great quantities on the Internet. It’s an ideal place to share news about having a positive attitude to life. But perhaps some of the more popular ‘to do’ items on people’s lists will raise an eyebrow:

seeing the Northern Lights

going on safari

swimming with dolphins

riding in a hot air balloon

or seeing the Grand Canyon.

... you get the idea. But perhaps things ‘closer to home’ would a bit easier to organise:

getting the whole family together

having a party on the beach

planting a sapling in your garden

taking photographs of all your children

or even writing a poem about your friends and family

Simple ideas are where to start...

Here’s how...

Every great bucket list should have something on it that’s a real motivator, but we all know the advantage of starting out with easy challenges – whether it’s your bucket list, or you’re helping someone else to make one.

Start by talking to friends and family about what they’d like to do. It’s important to create a list that has some achievable goals on it – that’s the key to success, and it’s the key to giving everyone golden memories of great times, spent together. In fact, sharing your ideas may make it easier not only to create ‘the plan’, but also to ‘stick’ to it as well.

If there’s something that sounds like a great idea, don’t dismiss it out of hand if cost is an issue. Perhaps you could set your sights on that one ambition – such as a trip abroad, or a lavish family get-together – and then pave the way with smaller steps, such as drawing up a calendar or writing letters, sharing the bucket list with everyone who’d like to know about it.

Plan ahead, think about tomorrow

The most important thing is to get started. We’ve all heard the phrase, ‘If ifs and ands were pots and pans...’ – it’s easy to roll our eyes and imagine some things being hard to do, but this isn’t day-dreaming, it’s about realising the whole of life’s ambitions.

So if you’ve ever thought about making a bucket list – or you know someone with a list that starts, ‘One day I’d like to...’ – grab the calendar and start putting that bucket list together today!